View my complete profileMy name is Diane Shepard Johnson and my daughter Sarah and I have always loved old fashioned things. We find Tasha Tudor and Beatrix Potter so inspiring. Some of our favorite things and interests are: spinning, weaving, natural dyeing of fiber and yarn, knitting, bobbin lace making, vegetable, herb and flower gardening, old fashioned clothing and frocks, dolls, the old ways of preparing food, canning, corgyn, bunnies, goats, birds, photography, writing, drawing and painting, the old ways of living and old fashioned tasks.The Corgyncombe Courant is our newspaper of some of the highlights of life at Corgyncombe Cottage. Courant is an old term for newspaper.

November 17, 2009

Calico Beans and Tasha Tudor Gingerbread

Raking Leaves and Cooking Over the Fire

During the Autumnal season, when the leaves had fallen, Diane's mum would have a huge leaf pile awaiting Diane when the bus brought her home from school. Ah, such joy! A sea of leaves to swim in, hide in, roll in. The math book would be thrown aside and hunted up later.

In "Seasons of Delight" and "Around the Year" by Tasha Tudor, there are illustrations of children having great fun playing in the leaves with their canine friends!

At Corgyncombe, the sea of leaves are raked up and deposited on the fields. Whilst raking leaves, Diane makes Calico Beans and gingerbread over the fire.

The meat and onions cooking.

Calico Beans over the fire.

In the photograph above, the gingerbread on the bottom has been baked and the one on top has yet to be put in the Dutch oven. The receipt for the gingerbread is in "The Tasha Tudor Cookbook". Instead of water, Diane used Corgyncombe Dairy Goat Carmella Lucille's milk and instead of raisins, Diane used currants. This receipt is quite similar to the receipt that Diane would make in the morning over the fire when she had kitchen duty whilst working at a museum. One day, when Diane had afternoon parlour duty, after baking gingerbread in the morning, a tour bus load of French Canadian people came through the old house. The tour was treated to a taste of the morning's gingerbread and the museum afternoon kitchen lady said that the little lady in the parlour had made it that morning. Whilst the tour ladies were in the kitchen discussing kitchen things with the afternoon kitchen museum lady, the tour ladies' husbands, who had delighted in the gingerbread, high tailed it into the parlour where they closed the parlour door, smiled and pointed to the hearts cut in the door, set down next to Diane, put their arms around her, and all of them proceeded to propose marriage to her! The tour ladies finally came in and retrieved their husbands!

The second gingerbread is done baking in the Dutch oven over the fire.

Both gingerbreads are out of the oven.

Calico Beans and gingerbread made over the fire for a delicious Autumnal treat. Diane's husband has always loved her gingerbread!

A lovely Autumnal sunset!

Little Ethlyn Corgi likes playing in the leaves just as much as Diane did when she was a child!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~